Latin America

China assures United States It Won't Export Political Model To Latin America

14 April 2006

MERCURY NEWS (BEIJING)--Chinese officials assured Washington that Beijing has no plans to seek greater influence in Latin America beyond expanding trade, a senior United States (U.S.) envoy said 14 April 2006. China's trade with Latin America more than doubled to about USD 50 billion a year since 2000, though still a small fraction of U.S. annual trade of about USD 800 billion with the region. But China's trade grows fast. It's said it plans to boost trade with the region to USD 100 billion by 2010. It's also scouring the Western Hemisphere for oil and gas concessions, drawing it closer to Venezuela, a major U.S. supplier that has the greatest global energy reserves outside the Persian Gulf. Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/
world/14345215.htm (Reliability: 7)